57§ 



NA TURE 



{Oct. 9, 1884 



Canada have, as yet, been by no means satisfactorily examined, 

 and consequently but lUperficially described ; and although we 

 have no stone ruins, s- till that does not detract from the interest 

 of the prehistoric works, found scattered over various sections of 

 this country, which are well worthy of a thorough scientific 

 examination. The forts, which were built principally of earth, 

 although stone was not unfrequently used to some extent in their 

 construction, are particularly interesting from two points of 

 v ; ew — viz. the almost perfect symmetrical shape, and the advan- 

 tageous positions which were invariably chosen. As to the first- 

 named feature, they bear a striking resemblance to the ancient 

 earthworks of the Western States, by which some writers have 

 ■endeavoured to prove that the authors of those works must have 

 been advanced in certain sciences. As to the situation of these 

 forts, their ancient builders seem to have carefully studied locali- 

 ties, and to have fully appreciated the advantages to be gained 

 thereby, as the situations chosen were invariably such as either to 

 command a view for a long distance over the country, or, if near 

 the water, to be so constructed that a fleet of canoes could be 

 seen a long distance away, so that sudden attacks by water would 

 be impracticable. The forts were generally made either circular 

 or oval, although one or two surveyed were crescent or semi- 

 circular, the form probably depending upon the lay of the land ; 

 and it is very singular that there has not been, to my know- 

 ledge, a single fort discovered in Canada wdiich even approaches 

 a square. Entrenchments seem to have been a not uncommon 

 mode of defence, and have every appearance of being anterior to 

 the wall or embankment forts; the Ingest one surveyed was 

 half a mile in circumference, of a circular form, and, judging by 

 counting the concentric rings of trees growing rij.ht in the ditch, 

 which must have grown after the fort was constructed, also by 

 decayed vegetable-matter and other evidences, was computed to 

 be from 800 to ioco years old. Ancient burial-places may be 

 classed u..der three heads — mounds, ossuaries, and single graves. 

 Mounds are not of frequent occurrence in Canada, a' id all 

 which have so far been examined have contained human bones, 

 proving that they were used as burial repositories. These tumuli 

 (if they may be so termed) are not by any means large ; they 

 generally measure about loo feet in circumference, and are only 

 about 5 feet high. The dead seem to have been buried without 

 any regular system, each mound containing from six to twelve 

 bodies. The ossuaries are probably the most interesting re- 

 mains we have. They consist of round symmetrical holes dug 

 to the required depth, and into which the bodies were promis- 

 cuously deposited ; some of the larger ones contain the remains 

 of several thousand bodies. The single graves are the most 

 ordinary remains we have, and are generally found on high 

 ground, a hill-top being a favourite site. In dwelling upon 

 sepulture, I trust to be able to show clearly that the burial of 

 articles with the dead was not so much a religious act as a mark 

 of respect to the dead. The archaeological relics of Canada have 

 never been fully described, and are deserving of a higher rank, in a 

 scientific sense, than has as yet been accorded them. We have a 

 orand field to work in, and the articles we find well repay us for 

 The trouble taken. The aborigines of America are undoubtedly 

 the fathers of smoking, aid the elaborate workmanship which 

 was bestowed upon their pipes shows the important place it 

 took in their every-day life. There are no articles found which 

 so well portray the aboriginal ingenuity as the pipes. Animals, 

 birds, reptiles, and the human physiognon y are all carved upon 

 the bowls and stems with life-like accurateness. Many speci- 

 mens found would trouble a clever artisan of the present day to 

 duplicate, allowing him all the modern tools to work with, 

 because stones, tools, ornaments of various kinds, &c, were 

 also manufactured with a precision simply perfect ; and, s tl inge 

 to say, it seems to have been a matter of little moment whether 

 they worked the hardest or softest qualities. Pottery, shell, and 

 bone were extensively used in the manufacture of articles for 

 their every-day life, whether for ornaments or necessary utensils ; 

 copper was also utilised to some extent, principally for tools, 

 ornaments, and sword-blades ; the ore was merely pounded into 

 the required shape. Shells, which must have been brought a 

 distance of nearly 2COO miles, are sometimes found in graves, 

 evidencing the extraordinary fact that a trade must have been 

 carried on between the aborigines of the north and those of the 

 south, which, extending over such a vast distance, and with 

 their primitive nude of travelling, must have made the articles 

 exchanged of great value. The wampum was probably nearly 

 altogether carved from these foreign shells. 



Major J. \V. Powell, U.S.A., read a paper on Hie Classifi- 

 cation of North American Languages. Major Powell said that 



in his remarks he would confine himself to those languages 

 which possessed at least a thousand words. Pointing to a map 

 of the United States on which the distribution of the languages 

 was marked, the speaker said that there were four great distinc- 

 tive tongues on the continent, the Aligonquian, the Shoshonian, 

 the Siouan, and the Athabascan. The classification of these 

 languages was impossible, he said, but we could classify 

 the arts, the habits, the philosophy of the peoples. He re- 

 marked on the fact that grammars and dictionaries, books, 

 and even newspapers, were published in some of the Siouan 

 languages, the Dakotan for instance. For the purpose of con- 

 venience and study of the North American languages, rules had 

 been drawn up and adopted, which rules were read and com- 

 mented upon by Major Powell. One of these was that family 

 names should not be recognised if they consisted of more than 

 one word, and another that all tribal names should terminate in 

 "an," as Aligonquian and Shoshonian. These were highly 

 necessary to prevent confusion. The speaker described the diffi- 

 culty he had experienced in classifying the different names during 

 the past fifteen years, and remarked that the affinities of various 

 languages were not yet practically determined. Within a year, 

 the work, he hoped, would be completed, as far as the United 

 States were concerned, but it would take some years before the 

 work for the North American continent was concluded. Four 

 gentlemen were now in the field engaged in collecting vocabu- 

 laries for this purpose. Remarking on the likeness between the 

 words " kayak " and "caique," Major Powell said that it could 

 be imagined how extremely difficult it was to decide upon such 

 a matter, there being, for instance, eighty languages in North 

 America which possess no affinities with each other. Gram mat ic 

 affinities might exist, but none closer. He thought that early 

 arts could not be relied upon to connect peoples. Institutions 

 and languages were more valuable and lasting helps to classify 

 nations, the latter especially so. Finally, the speaker said that, 

 as there were eighty different stocks of languages and the same 

 number of mythologies, it would be a long time before their 

 labours were completed. 



Mr. Rosefeldt observed that, although he had lived among 

 the Indians for some years, he had never met with an Indian 

 who could pronounce the letter R. In this they were like the 

 Chinese, and therefore might have migrated into America by 

 way of Behring Straits. He related an incident which occurred 

 dining his residence amongst the Indians. One of them asking 

 him to what family he (the speaker) belonged, Mr. Rosefeldt 

 replied, the fox, as this animal occurred in his coat-of-arms. 

 The Indian said, " Then I must be your ' pickanniny,' " or son, 

 showing the figure of a snake on his arm, " as the snake is the 

 son of the fox ! " This showed that the Indians imagined that 

 they derived their descent from various animals. 



Mrs. Erminie A. Smith read a paper On the Customs and 

 Languagi of the Iroquois. Some years ago Mrs. Smith was 

 received into the tribe of the Tuscaroras, and adopted as a sister 

 by one of the chiefs of that nation. An assemblage was held 

 to do honour to this auspicious event, and a handsome bead- 

 work dress was prepared for Mrs. Smith. The chief who 

 adopied her being one of the " Bear'' family, she also became 

 a Bear. Mrs. Smith made some interesting remarks upon 

 the costumes and upon the gambling habits of the Indians, and 

 showed some of the silver brooches used by them as stakes in 

 the games. A hair " waterfall," composed of some five hundred 

 scalps joined together, was exhibited, as well as the temperance 

 banner of the Tuscaroras ; this bore a rude representation of the 

 American eagle destroying the demon of intemperance, with 

 six stars of the six nations', and figures of the animals which are 

 symbols of the tribes. Noticing the construction of the Iro- 

 q'uoian language, Mrs. Smith said that there were two so-called 

 genders, noble and ignoble ; the former comprised God, men, 

 and angels, and the latter demons, the lower animals male and 

 female, inanimate objects, and "women, children, and other 

 chattels." 



Mr. F. H. dishing read a paper On the Development of In- 

 dustrial and Ornamental Art among the Zunis of Neio Mexico. 

 The speaker's remarks were illustrated by numerous specimens 

 of pottery and other kinds of work done by the Indians. Mr. 

 Cushing -aid that by adoption of the Zuni language, customs, 

 habits of living, and costume, to the minutest particular, he had 

 been enabled to obtain a vast amount of information regarding 

 these people — descendants, as he said, of the " Pueblo Indians." 

 The word " Pueblo," he explained, was applied to a nation who 

 lived in communal dwellings. He brought forward evidence, 

 linguistic and otherwise, to prove the descent of the Zunis from 



